But wait! That's Not All!

We'll be putting a video together next week showing lots more photos and other videos that we took during the trip.

Stay Tuned!

Como and Bellagio make a great final day

Our final day on the road included a day trip to the area of Lake Como. This is about 30 miles north of Milan . We took the train to Como and then hopped on a hydrofoil boat for a one hour ride up the lake to Bellagio. What a site! This area gives the Amalfi Coast a run for its money. Today's trip provided some of the most amazing views we have ever seen. The boat ride maneuvered up through the Italian Alps to the docks of Bellagio. From there we could see the snow covered Swiss Alps peaking over the horizon. The weather was beautiful and we spent the afternoon strolling through the markets and shops of Bellagio. We were constantly commenting on the scenery. Every turn produced another breathtaking view.

We were a little sad on the train ride back to Milan as we realized our trip was quickly coming to an end. We will be leaving Milan on Friday morning at 10:20am. :-(

Ciao for now!

Violet and Grace

Arrival in Milan

On Wednesday morning we embarked on the final leg of our incredible Italian Tour. We left Tuscany by train and headed to Milan. You could not imagine to more different environments. Milan is a bustling city with lots of Italian businesses headquartered here. Rick Steves says "For every church in Rome there is a bank in Milan". Violet and Grace were excited to visit Milan as it is the fashion capital of the world.

We checked into our hotel and head toward the city center. We stopped by the Milan Cathedral to tour this magnificent structure. Violet pointed out the Gothic design of the exterior and we were not disappointed when we toured the inside. It's not as big as St. Peter's at the Vatican, but it sure did seem pretty big.

Window shopping ruled the rest of the afternoon. All of the top designers had storefronts around the city. Check out our photos from the afternoon. Soldaddy forgot the camera so we had to make due with the iPhone.

Ciao!

Violet and Grace

Photos from Lucca

Lucca was fun. As our earlier post mentioned, we spent most of the time exploring the Mediaval and Renaissance walls that surround that city.

Photos from Pisa

Here are some photos from our Tuesday morning visit to Pisa. What a climb!

Pisa and Lucca

Our final day in Florence included a day trip to Pisa and Lucca. We took the morning train to the city of Pisa. We headed immediately to the Leaning tower. Grace and Violet said they were up for some exercise so we decided to climb to the top of the tower. We all concluded that the climb was more intense than the Duomo in Florence. We made it to the top safely and we all experienced a little vertigo once we made our way to the perch. The views were awesome, but you could definitely feel the tilt of the tower at the top.

After the visit to Pisa we took a train to Lucca. This is a old but small Italian city surrounded by a sixteenth century wall that encircles the entire city. The wall is a hundred feet wide and is built with stones and brick. Lucca has a bike path at the top of the wall. We rented some bikes and took a spin around the top of the wall. It was really pretty. The path is lined with trees so you get to ride in the shade and view the city at the same time. We made two laps around the city for a total of 5 miles.

Wehraded back to the farm house for our final evening in Tuscany. We will be taking the train to Milan tomorrow morning for the last two days of our trip. We will miss this area but are excited to get to our next destination.

We will post the photos from Pisa and Lucca once we get to Milan. We hope the Wednesday morning will bring us news of an Orlando Magic victory in game 3.

Ciao!

Violet and Grace

Siena for the Day

We woke up on Monday and took the train to Siena for the day. We hit Il Campo first. This is the city center with lots of history and the location for the famous Palio horse race. This is an annual bareback horse race that takes place in the center of the city each year. We had some lunch and then went shopping. We are having a great day.

Ciao!

Violet & Grace